A new study has shown that general painkillers are more effective than opioids for toothache. This is what the health and medicine webzine ‘Health Day’ reported on the 9th (local time) based on a paper by researchers at Rutgers University published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
Research results show that people who received prescriptions for general painkillers acetaminophen and ibuprofen to relieve pain after dental surgery had less pain, better sleep, and were more satisfied than those who received prescriptions for narcotic painkillers hydrocodone. “The results are actually much stronger than we thought,” said Cecil Feldman, director of the Rutgers University School of Dentistry and lead author of the paper. “We think this is groundbreaking research.”
Dentists are the largest narcotic painkiller prescriber in the United States. In 2022 alone, more than 8.9 million narcotic painkiller prescriptions were written. Additionally, many young people are exposed to dental procedures such as wisdom tooth extraction for the first time, the researchers noted. “Studies have shown that when young people are exposed to narcotic painkillers, they are more likely to use them again and this can lead to addiction,” said Janine Fredericks-Younger, associate dean of the Rutgers University School of Dentistry and a member of the research team.
Researchers randomly prescribed acetaminophen and ibuprofen combination therapy or acetaminophen and hydrocodone to more than 1,800 patients undergoing wisdom tooth extraction treatment at five clinics. As a result, it was found that the group prescribed a combination of general analgesics was better at managing pain than the group prescribed narcotic analgesics for the first two days after dental procedures.
The researchers found that the group taking acetaminophen and ibuprofen had less sudden pain, had fewer interruptions in daily life, and had better sleep quality. Additionally, people who had not received a prescription for an opioid were 46% less likely to receive a new prescription for an opioid within six months after dental surgery, the researchers reported.
The American Dental Association (ADA) recently issued recommendations urging dentists to refrain from using narcotic painkillers as a first option for pain relief. The researchers said they plan to expand the study to other dental procedures and pain scenarios.
The paper can be found at the following link (
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Source: kormedi.com
